Scientists have been searching for life on other planets ever since man first went into space and dreaming of it even before then. Their search still continues, but what scientists have found are geysers on other moons.

In 1989, the Voyager 2 discovered geysers on one of Neptune’s moons—Triton. The geysers on Triton are nitrogen geysers, which may be caused by solar heating or tidal forces inside the moon. The nitrogen gas bursts through the surface of semi-frozen nitrogen either because it has been heated or because the tidal forces force it through the surface. Incredibly, the eruptions on Triton can last for as long as a year, and the moon is streaked with material from eruptions that has been scattered downwind from the geysers.

Triton is not the only moon that contains geysers. In 2005, the spacecraft Cassini, which had orbited Saturn’s moons numerous times, photographed billows of steam from the moon Enceladus. Later, these scientists came to realize that the clouds of smoke came from geysers on the surface. The eruptions on Enceladus were composed of liquid water and scientists theorized that some heat source inside of the moon melted the water and pressure caused it to eventually burst through the surface. In fact, the scientists studying the moon discovered that the ring around Saturn most likely came from the eruptions from Enceladus because the material is the same as the eruptions.

Io, a moon of Jupiter, has eruptions of frozen water and gas through vents on its surface. These cold geysers on the moons are called “cryovolcanoes.”As of yet, scientists have not discovered geysers on other planets only the moons of various planets in the solar system, but that does not mean they have given up searching. It was not until twenty years ago that the first geysers were discovered on a moon, so there may be more on other moons as well as other planets in the solar system.

The presence of geysers on these moons may be a clue to finding life in outer space. Geysers are a place where microorganism grow and thrive—thermophiles and hyperthermophiles (a term for bacteria that can survive extreme temperatures) have been found in the extremely hot waters of geysers—so scientists are excited about finding them on these moons. In fact, the scientists studying the Cassini’s results say that this proof of liquid water beneath the surface of Enceladus indicates that this moon would be a good place to search for life.

One of the requisites for life as we know it is a warm source of water. Although Mars has captured the attention of many searching for life, scientists may switch their attention to this moon of Saturn. One of the scientists on the Cassini study says that now that they have found liquid water, they are searching for other signs of a habitat suitable for life—whether the geysers are stable, a chemical habitat to support life, etc. The discovery of life in geysers has led to revolutionary advancements in biotechnology, and now geysers may help scientists find life in space.

The Waimangu Geyser was located in New Zealand. Its name translates as “black geyser” and came from the fact that the water that erupted from it was black from mud and rocks in the ground. This geyser started erupting in 1900 and quickly gained popularity because of its incredible size. The Waimangu Geyser was the largest one ever recorded reaching heights of 150 meters (486 ft) regularly. The geyser was even noted to reach 460 meters (1491 ft) on more than one occasion. The tallest geyser that is still considered active(although it has not erupted for several years)—the Steamboat geyser of Yellowstone National Park—only reaches heights of around 100 meters (324 ft).

The power of the Waimang Geyser was demonstrated in a terrible accident in 1903.Four tourists were killed by the geyser in 1903—Ruby and Katherine Nicholls who were sisters, David MacNaughton, and Joe Warbrick. They were members of a tourist expedition and ventured too close to the geyser. Their guide tried to get them to move away from the geyser warning them of the danger, but they stayed by it. A terrific eruption that shot out carried the four victims almost a mile away. The clothes of the victims were torn to shreds, and the bodies, badly damaged, were found in different spot around the landscape. One doctor believed that they died nearly instantaneously.

This incredible geyser quickly became a tourist spot and hotels were built around the area between 1902 and 1903. The tour was known as the “Round Trip,” and in fact, it still takes place today, although the geyser itself has died. Many photographs were taken of the geyser by tourists and scientists. Because of its dark color, the Waimangu Geyser almost looks like oil in these old black and white photographs. Unfortunately, those photographs are the only way that people can see the geyser today.

The Waimangu Geyser, as magnificent as it was, was short-lived. The eruptions began slowing in the fall of 1904 because of shifting geothermal activity and stopped altogether in late autumn of 1904. Since then, the Waimangu area has been a place of great interest to scientists. In the years following, more activity shifted the landscape and formed thermal lakes around the now extinct Waimangu Geyser. One of the boarding houses for tourists was destroyed during one of these periods of disturbance.

Throughout the century, scientists have continued to study the Waimangu area and instruments were installed in 1970 to monitor activity around the two hot lakes in the area—the Frying Pan and the Inferno Crater lakes. Scientists have discovered that the two lakes follow a cycle. The Inferno Crater Lake used to fall and rise along with the Waimangu Geyser. Now, it rises and falls inversely with the Frying Pan Lake. When the water level of the Inferno Crater Lake rises, the Frying Pan’s water level decreases and vice-versa. Waimangu is the only place in the world where hot lakes follow a cycle such as this. The Waimangu Geyser spurted into existence and gradually waned away, however taking into account the constant flow of geothermal activity that takes place in that part of the world, perhaps another such geyser will one day appear.

Kamchatka is a region in the far northeast section of Russia. It is a rather isolated region rich in natural resources and home to the second largest collection of geysers in the world. In addition to the over ninety geysers in the valley, the area is filled with hot springs and volcanoes.

The Valley of Geysers was discovered in 1941 by a scientist, Tatiana Ustinova, and her guide who had stumbled upon the valley and were nearly scared to death when one geyser erupted near them. Ustinova named the geyser “Pervenets,” which means “the first-born.”

The Kamchatka Valley of Geysers has been damaged more than once by natural disasters. In 1981, the Typhoon Elsa caused so much flooding and damage from debris that one geyser (Bolshaya Pechka) was completely destroyed. Nor was that the only disaster. In June of 2007, a landslide in the valley caused severe damage, covering two-thirds of the valley and coming very close to destroying the valley’s only hotel. Many geysers, including Pervenets and Maly, were buried. Some geysers were destroyed and many scientists and wildlife conservations were afraid that the geyser field would be almost completely obliterated.

A group of Russian scientists went to the area in June of 2007 in order to assess the damage and try to preserve as much of the valley as they could. They found at least one new geyser when they got there which erupted with a height of five meters (just over 16 feet).The Director of the Kronotsky Preserve visited the Kamchatka Valley of Geysers and said that most of the damage was not permanent, even predicting that it would be soon cleaned up in order for tourism to continue.

The valley has lush foliage and brilliant colors from various mineral deposits, which provides a beautiful backdrop for the steaming geysers. Many of the geysers—over twenty—have been named. While the green groundcover is beautiful, it can be dangerous to walk on because it may conceal geysers. Even with boots, it is dangerous because the ground can be a boiling marsh, which unsuspecting tourists sink into. The only spots that you can be sure are safe is where the plant wormwood grows. For some reason, this plant will only grow where there is no danger of geysers or any other thermal spots.

While Kamchatka’s Valley of Geysers is a tourist spot of incredible beauty, it is very hard to access. In fact, it is almost impossible to get there without helicopter. In order to protect the beauty of the valley, unplanned tourist excursions were prohibited in 1977. Now, only planned groups of tourists are brought in by helicopter.

Because of its setup and location, the Kamchatka Valley of Geysers cannot handle the massive crowds of tourists that Yellowstone National Park gets each year. Still, the valley does get thousands of tourists each year. If unplanned tourism had not been outlawed several decades ago, the Valley of Geysers would have most likely suffered irreparable damage and one of the natural wonders in that part of the world would have been lost forever.

The El Tatio geyser field can be found in the Atacama Desert in the South American country of Chile. El Tatio—translated “the Grandfather”—is the largest geyser field in the southern hemisphere with more than eighty active geysers. That distinction belonged to the Taupo Volcanic Zone in New Zealand until many of the geysers on that island were destroyed by a combination of man’s intervention and natural occurrences. The El Tatio geyser field is also the third largest geyser field in the world trailing Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and the Kamchatka Valley of Geysers in Russia.

Another unique feature of El Tatio is that it is situated in the Andes Mountains, which puts it at an elevation of 4,200 meters above sea level. Even though it is high up in the mountains, El Tatio is not the geyser field with the highest elevation in the world. The eruptions of the geysers at El Tatio are actually quite small. The average eruption is only 75 centimeters (29.5 inches) and the highest one measured about six meters (under twenty feet). Considering other active geysers–like the Great Fountain in Yellowstone National Park–reach over 200 feet, the geysers at El Tatio are not large.

In addition to the attraction of the geysers, the field is quite scenic because of a combination of the geysers, the formation of the ground, pools that are vibrantly colored as a result of the bacteria and microbes that live in them, and because the geyser field is set among a group of active volcanoes.

It is not surprising that like the world’s other geyser fields, El Tatio is a popular tourism attraction. In fact, it was named one of the seven wonders of South America. There are numerous tours of the El Tatio geysers although some of them are fairly expensive. The El Tatio geysers are best viewed at sunrise because you can see the steam to its full advantage. This means that you would have to leave at 4 a.m. from the nearby city of San Pedro for some tours to reach the site by sunrise.

Because this geyser field is in a remote part of the Andes, it is not as accessible as some other geyser locations, such as Yellowstone National Park. Tourists can also drive up on their own or camp at the geyser field, and there is a visitors’ center with indoor plumbing and a small kitchen for the campers’ use.

If you do take a tour of these geysers, you should watch where you are going. There are no park rangers like at Yellowstone National Park, and the geysers can be dangerous. Many parts of the geyser field are covered with a thin crust that looks like solid ground but will not support a person’s weight. Visitors to the geysers do get burned by the geysers and boiling pools quite frequently. Although difficult to reach, El Tatio is a place of great beauty and is an incredible sight to see firsthand.

Did you know that 75% of the geysers on the face of the planet exist in Yellowstone National Park? That is an amazing geyser fact and it makes Yellowstone a treasure trove for geyser gazersYou can find the Steamboat geyser in the

Norris

Geyser

Basin. It is the largest geyser on earth at over 300 feet tall! The Steamboat geyser does not erupt every few minutes so it may be difficult to witness its eruption. Echinus is a nearby geyser that blows irregularly but when it does, its column can grow over thirty feet high and last around five minutes.

The Old Faithful geyser is the most popular geyser at

Yellowstone

Park because of its predictability, duration and height. It has a geyser column over 100 feet high and erupts every 66-92 minutes on average.

Below is a list of popular geysers at Yellowstone, their location, interval, duration and height:

Other great websites on the geysers at Yellowstone National Park:

• The Geysers of Yellowstone
• Yellowstone, Geysers, Travel Tidbits

• Yellowstone National Park, USA
• Iceland
• El Tatio, Chile
• Dolina Geiserov, Russia
• Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand